Any major Army tactical reorganization is implicitly a complex subject of inquiry. The symbolized and numbered structure of lines and boxes that is the traditional representation of an organization of tactical units is deceptively simplistic. Such a chart, depicting a major fighting unit, provides no more than a glimpse of its power capability, its control and communications mechanisms, its individuated and specialized fighting elements, or its logistics infrastructure. Yet it is this vastly complex and diversified formation that unifies the composite of the tactically trained men and equipment it contains to furnish the basic tool of warfare. Organization is the ordering factor in the dynamic of battle and the chaos of war. This study focuses on the origins and execution of one such major reorganization by the U.S. Army of its tactical units-the Army of Excellence, or AOE. That effort of 1983 culminated in the approved organizations of the Army of the 1980s, the Army with which the United States conducted combat operations in Panama in 1989-1990 (Operation Just Cause) and in the Persian Gulf in 1990-1991 (Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm) .No major institutional event evades controversy. The Army of Excellence was an Army built upon dilemmas rooted in the political and strategic currents of the early 1980s. Those omnipresent realities-a powerful and dangerous Soviet adversary, a global defense mission, an ongoing major cycle of weapon modernization, and an inflexibly capped Army end strength too small for the force needed-were factors forcing Army leaders to a compromise of balanced heavy and light organizational designs.

Introduction -- Army 86: heavy and light -- The development of the Army of Excellence -- The Army of Excellence design -- The light infantry division and its certification -- The light divisions transition to the AOE -- The heavy divisions transition to the AOE -- Programming and documenting the AOE -- The light infantry division debate and the heavy/light army -- An Assessment -- Appendix A: organizational charts -- Appendix B: tables -- Appendix C: bibliographical note on Army tactical reorganization sources.